This invention pertains to livestock feeders and more particularly to a feeder which is continuously supplied with feed, but in which the amount is controlled and measured so that the total amount of feed going though the feeder can always be known. The feed is delivered from a storage place in small amounts so that the feed available to the animals is always fresh.
Livestock feeders in which feed is constantly suppled to livestock from a storage container or bin have been available for some time. These feeders customarily are fed by gravity and the feeding compartment is kept constantly full. This type of feeder requires adjustments to provide adequate feed without causing an excess of feed to fall. Also, the only measure of feed supplied is determined by noting the reduction in the contents of the principal supply. If multiple feeders are fed from a single supply bin, there is no indication of how much goes to any particular feeder. Nor is there any inexpensive system for metering the feed.
In modern lifestock feeding operations, it is important that all livestock, especially including breeding stock, be fed efficiently. In order to do that, the feed must be attractive to the animal. One characteristic of attractive feed is freshness, and therefore, it is desirable to place only small amounts into a feed trough at any one time. Weather will not then affect the feed by damaging it or causing it to mold, because the small amounts will be consumed quickly enough that a new supply will be needed.
By my specific device I provide not only for automatic delivery of small metered amounts of feed when the eating area is emptied, but also use a device in which the feed is not delivered to the trough when an animal's head is in the trough.
Knowledge of the amount of feed being consumed may also be important particularly for lactating animals or those about to give birth. In those cases, animals may be confined to a small pen and small feeders may be used to deliver a metered amount of feed. By my device I provide for measuring the amount of feed so that the consumption by the animal may readily be computed.